Fendi, Del Core lead Milan fashion's runway return

Italy’s fashion capital is again alive with the sound of shoppers swarming boutiques and editors filling socially distanced fashion week venues, a sign of a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel

MILAN -- Italy’s fashion capital is again alive with the sound of shoppers swarming boutiques and editors filling socially distanced fashion week venues, a sign of a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.

Milan Fashion Week opened Wednesday with 42 live runway shows and 56 in-person presentations, the biggest presence yet since the pandemic struck Italy 19 months ago, smack dab during fashion week. Adding digital presences, 146 brands are participating in six days of mostly womenswear previews.

Signs of recovery are also evident in Milan’s largest department store, the recently renovated Rinascente, where foreigners are spending six times what they spent in 2020 when receipts plunged some 70%.

In a clear sign that Italy remains dear to the hearts of Chinese consumers, exports to that country have nearly doubled during the pandemic, to nearly 6 billion euros from a pre-pandemic 3.2 billion euros, according to the Italian National Fashion Chamber, spending at home at least part of what they once would have spent during trips abroad to Italy.